I know HTML. But I know the old one. HTML 4. I learned it 6 months back, but instead of brushing up everything again, I was just wondering if we can learn HTML5 directly? Because I saw in w3schools that HTML5 requires knowledge about JavaScript and something else. Or is it advisable to first brush through HTML, CSS, JS and then go to HTML5?

I never recommend w3schools as a good resource.If you are just building static web sites HTML5 won't give you any real advantages.

HTML5 was designed for web applications, so if you're not building applications which use forms or javascript you probably won't need any of it.But, if you want to know what it is here's one of the best resources available http://diveintohtml5.info/

Yeah, bro. I will get into web applications and stuffs. But I need to know the basics right first isn't it. And no, why would I opt for HTML5 for static web pages? And I checked out TheNewBoston also on youtube. Even he gives some pre requisites before getting into HTML5.

HTML5 mainly just builds onto previous versions of HTML, so it's important to have the basics in place first. It's worth being aware of the new elements of HTML5 and what they are for, but browser support for them is very patchy right now, and they are still in development. So while they are fun to tinker with, you won't get far trying to use too many new HTML5 elements right now. However, in time you'l be able to use them with or without web applications.

W3C got us all confused and mixed up when they decided to put together what they call the semantics (the tags, the HTML in the classic sense), the new style specs (CSS3) and a plethora of JavaScript helpers, like for offline and storage, geo-location, web sockets, web workers, audio and video, 3D, and a bunch of other techs, like SVG, to form what they call

HTML5 - a framework designed to support innovation and foster the full potential the web has to offer.

Of course, for this ambitious project, many years have to pass before we can see this HTML5 properly supported by the significant browsers of the moment. Various parts of this so called HTML5 framework have different degrees of support in the modern browsers, and this is where the fast releases help. But it's also the biggest downfall since the differences in implementation move away from the standards.

They target the year 2014 for the full framework's specs to become the official recommendation. Probably by 2015-2016 we could see maybe half of it properly implemented by browser vendors. Maybe not. Who knows, by then, this view of HTML5 as a name for a framework it may became obsolete.

Another problem is that W3C has decided on a weird system to declare the specs final: it should exist at least two full implementations to make is so. Which creates a vicious circle: how could anyone fully implement specs that have never been completed by anyone yet, in order to be declared final?

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In the meantime, another group, called WHATWG decided to go with HTML5 only in the classic sense, the HTML markup. Their specs came to a point where they'd simply call it HTML, to clear the air up of any confusion the W3C had cast on the HTML5 word.

This markup part has strong support in the significant browsers of the moment, except for IE7, IE8, for which there are solutions in place, be it graceful degradation or JavaScript helpers.

The rest of the browsers have implemented the new semantics to a point where it's pretty much safe to leave behind HTML4 and use the new markup confidently.

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To conclude, as far as the markup part is concerned, I'm already using the new semantic HTML5, and seeing that all, standard creators and browser vendors, have also concluded that 1999's HTML4.01 is way back in the past, my opinion is so should anyone starting up on web development today.